Seizures in a French Bulldog: what to do, and when it is an emergency

"How to stop seizures in dogs immediately" is searched a thousand times a month in the UK, and the honest answer is that you cannot, and that what you do in the next two minutes matters anyway. This page is the vet charities' first aid in their own words, the thresholds at which a seizure becomes an emergency, what a first seizure means, and what is particular about this breed. It gives no verdict; the phone call does that.

During the seizure

The PDSA's first-aid page, step by step: "Stay calm"; "If your pet is on a sofa or bed, carefully move them down onto the floor"; "Clear some space around them so they can't hurt themselves"; "Dim the lights and make the room as quiet as possible"; "Start a timer so you know how long the seizure lasts and, if possible, video your pet"; "Keep the room as cool as possible – seizures often cause a rise in body temperature"; and "Don't transport your pet until the seizure has stopped (unless your vet advises otherwise)." Its don'ts: "Don't restrain them"; "Don't try to bring them round from their seizure by shouting, shaking or hitting them – this will probably make their seizure worse"; "Don't get anywhere near their mouth – you are likely to get bitten"; "Don't wrap them up – they might overheat." The Kennel Club says the mouth part in capitals: "Under no circumstances should you put anything in your pet's mouth, including your hands."

When it is an emergency

Two numbers, from both charities. Time: the PDSA says "Call your vet if the seizure lasts for more than two minutes", and "Any seizure that lasts for more than five minutes (known as status epilepticus) can cause permanent damage to the brain and other vital organs"; the Kennel Club's definition of status epilepticus is "a seizure that lasts longer than five minutes, or where two or more individual epileptic seizures occur, between which the dog does not return to 'normal' and regain full consciousness". Count: "You should contact your vet immediately if your dog has had more than one seizure in the last 24 hours", which the Kennel Club calls a cluster. Otherwise, the PDSA's instruction is to "call them once your pet has started to come round", and to call in any case: "It's important to contact your vet for advice if your dog has a seizure, even if they seem fine afterwards."

After a first seizure

The PDSA: "If your dog has only had a single seizure, it may not need investigating straight away. As long as the seizure lasted less than five minutes, your dog recovered well afterwards and they appear healthy at their check-up, your vet will probably suggest monitoring them at home and only running some investigations if they have another. The seizure may have just been a one-off – many dogs have an unexplained seizure in their lifetime." A diagnosis of epilepsy, per the Kennel Club, needs "at least two unprovoked epileptic seizures more than 24 hours apart", and the thing that helps most is "a thorough description of the abnormal event, or ideally, a video recording". The PDSA's seizure diary is four lines per episode: when, how long, what it looked like, how long to come round.

What causes them

The PDSA's list: idiopathic epilepsy, which "affects approximately one in every 200 dogs across the UK" and starts "between six months and six years old"; toxins, "caffeine, chocolate, rat poison and slug bait"; head trauma; heatstroke, in which "Seizures are common in severe cases"; low blood sugar in diabetic dogs and puppies gone too long without food; liver disease; infections, including lungworm; low calcium in a nursing bitch; and brain tumours, which are rare and unlikely under six. That list is why a first seizure gets a check-up even when the dog seems fine: the vet is ruling out the ones with a cause.

In this breed

The Kennel Club lists French Bulldogs among the breeds with a possible predisposition to idiopathic epilepsy; the PDSA's list of the most-affected breeds does not include them. Two things on this site matter more than the list. Heat: a French Bulldog overheats at temperatures other dogs tolerate, seizures are a sign of severe heat illness, and the heat-stroke page has the first five minutes for that. And the thing that is not a seizure: a rhythmic bob of the head in a bright, responsive dog that stops when you distract it with a treat is the breed's idiopathic head tremor, which has its own page and its own instruction, which is to film it. A dog that has fallen over, lost awareness, paddled and wet itself has had a seizure; a dog nodding at you has not. In the 2013 VetCompass population, brain disorders were the commonest recorded cause of death in the breed's young dogs, which is a reason to take the first one seriously and not a reason to assume the worst.

Medication, and the question people search

"Dog seizures when to put down" is searched 880 times a month, so the page will say what the charity says rather than leave it to the search results. The PDSA: most dogs with idiopathic epilepsy "can be well controlled with medication – it might not be possible to stop their seizures completely, but they can usually be reduced to a level that enables a very good quality of life." Medication is suggested when a dog has "More than two seizures in six months", "A seizure that lasts more than five minutes", or seizures with severe after-effects, and it is for life, at the same time each day, never stopped suddenly.

The hard sentences

In the charity's words: "some dogs never recover from status epilepticus, and if your dog continues seizing despite medication you may need to consider euthanasia", and "there are a small number of dogs that don't respond to medication. If this is the case for your dog, and their seizures are affecting their quality of life, it may be necessary to consider euthanasia." That decision is made with a vet who knows the dog, on quality of life, and this page is not it. What it adds is the cost line the PDSA adds too: investigation and lifelong drugs are expensive, which is what the per-condition limit exists for.

Have ready for the call

• The time it started and the time it stopped.
• The video, if anyone could film.
• What the dog was doing beforehand, and the room temperature.
• Whether it has happened before, and when.
• Anything it could have eaten or got into, with the packaging.
• Whether it is back to itself, and how long that took.

What this page is not

A verdict. Every threshold is the PDSA's or the Kennel Club's wording, attributed; the definitions match the 2024 specialists' consensus on status epilepticus. The breed line is the site's own sourced pages. If the dog is seizing now, the phone number is the whole page.